Why do I feel sympathetic towards the Dzhokhar Tsarnaev?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP,
You sound like you are a kind, thoughtful person and you probably try to find the best of every person you meet. I'm hoping that you are just naive and misguided, and not outright delusional.
I personally do not feel sympathy for the bomber, curious perhaps about what brought him to this juncture in his life, but sympathy? "A natural feeling of kindness and understanding you have for someone experiencing something unpleasant"
No possible way.

Please tell me that the apologists on this thread are not going to be taken in by some of the current claims on the internet that the young man who had his legs blown to bits is actually an actor and that the whole situation was staged.

You also sound like a moron.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hate people like the OP. They feel sympathy based on their own limited experience (nice white boy = wasted potential = feel sad.)

This kind of crap is not a real commitment to social justice or equality. It's just emotional. And it's the same narrative trotted out to defend rapists (his life is ruined!) and the same reason why statistically African Americans get harsher punishments for the same crimes. They don't look as innocent.

The OP thinks she is some greater evolved being acting on some greater moral calling, but really it's just intellectual laziness with a dash of racism.

I agree with you 100% and this thread is absolutely sickening to me. When folks decide to go down the "blacks are more criminal" line of drivel, REMEMBER this thread. No longer ask yourself why blacks are supposedly more criminal, but instead ask yourself why you are more likely to *see* that black person as being a criminal (and judge him harshly as a result).

To imagine someone having sympathy for DT without ANY proof that he was brainwashed is stunning. Many of you should be ashamed of yourselves. You're probably the same sort who defend George Zimmerman for protecting himself against the "thug" Trayvon Martin and/or the same type who would clutch your purse when you pass a black guy on the street. I mean, he doesn't look like you, so he must be up to no good, right?

I've always maintained that white people afford other white people the benefit of the doubt and this thread is proof of that. Sick, sick, sick.

[Anonymous]

Please stop. You are putting words in people's mouths and imagining they have the worst possible motives. You are making things worse.

[Anonymous]

And if the OP is still out there and hasn't slit her wrists by now, I would personally like to apologize for the ugliness on this thread. It was totally uncalled for for people to call her a sick racist, spit out how much they hate her, etc.

[Anonymous]

I think people have touched on two different points that are both true. One is that there are psychopaths in the world -- people who are "wired wrong" from birth, who actually are operating under a different set of rules and motivations from most other human beings because they have no empathy. Bundy is a clear example. Eric Harris is (probably) another. I find it entirely possible, based on the reports we have so far, that Tamerlan Tsarnaev may have been one of these. But maybe not. Which brings me to my second point. There are a lot of people who commit criminal acts who are not psychopaths. For these people, they started out normal and went down a wrong path, made bad decisions, some impulsively (the Jovan Belcher case comes to mind as an example of this). Or, they come to believe in an ideology so deeply that it causes them to lose empathy for the group that is the target of the ideology (many German citizens during the Holocaust participated in unspeakable crimes because the ideology they came to believe said that Jews were less than human and thus undeserving of empathy).

It is fine and normal to feel anger toward people who commit heinous acts that cost others their lives and limbs. But it behooves us as a society to move beyond pure rage and to seek understanding of why the non-psychopaths end up committing crimes -- not to grieve for them but to try to prevent future crimes. Understanding how ideology can undermine empathy -- and how to stop that from happening -- is particularly important.

That said, I do feel some sadness for this kid. I just can't imagine how on earth doing this could have been worth forfeiting his life. Did he really feel he had nothing to live for? It is just baffling. Unlike Adam Lanza, who clearly didn't have anything to live for (in anyone's eyes, including, apparently, his). And yet, despite the fact that Newtown shook me to the core and I cried buckets for those kids and still think about those parents every day, I feel strangely sad for Lanza too. What, if anything, could have been done to prevent his spiral into darkness?

I'm sorry some of you feel too angry to be able to entertain these questions. But I refuse to be told what a "normal" response is to a tragedy or be called names because I'm not itching to kill the killers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And if the OP is still out there and hasn't slit her wrists by now, I would personally like to apologize for the ugliness on this thread. It was totally uncalled for for people to call her a sick racist, spit out how much they hate her, etc.

I am someone who agreed with OP and all of the ugliness didn't make me feel bad about myself. It just made it clear (yet again) how many people in this world have very little compassion and the unwillingness to even try to see things from someone else's perspective. I would venture a guess that most of these people are also against gun control and believe every Muslim hates Americans.

And OP did NOT say she thought DT was not guilty or should not be punished. You can feel sad about the situation *and* feel sympathy for the victims *and* believe DT needs to be severely punished. Those are not mutually exclusive...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ahh who is this lil' punkin?



Jeffrey Dahmer

and this lil' cowpoke?


Ted Bundy

And this sweet angel from high?



Ossama Bin Laden


If only we had been able to get to them sooner......

[Anonymous]

I am NOT condoning Dzhokhar's actions but you do realize that George Washington would be considered a terrorist by the British. It is all a matter of perspective...

[Anonymous]

Ossama Bin Laden



They have the children of war torn countries look. Adam Lanza had it too but his was an internal war.

[Anonymous]

Those who do not have sympathy or empathy for Dzhokhar should not inflame their blood pressure by reading the sentiments of those who do. Go read FOX news. They share your bloodthirsty hatred. You can gnash your teeth and slobber all over each other.

[Anonymous]

Interesting point about George Washington. Yep, those original Tea Partiers were the jihadists of their day. One if by land, Two if by Mercedes!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was just thinking the other day about poor Scott Peterson. That handsome, darling man who got railroaded into marriage and family by that little harlot. I can't help think about how we could have helped him. Where was the village when this poor poor man fell from grace?

You're right. It also makes me think of that poor misunderstood woman, Banita Jacks. You know that if those children had been normal and had not misbehaved, they'd still be around now. And clearly society should have seen that she was a desperate mother crying out for help and society failed her. We should all hang our heads in collective shame for what we did to those children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am NOT condoning Dzhokhar's actions but you do realize that George Washington would be considered a terrorist by the British. It is all a matter of perspective...

man that is offensive. Washington targeted civilians to spread terror?

[Anonymous]

I have a son exactly his age and I wonder what I would do if it was MY child who committed this heinous crime. As a mother, would I throw unconditional love out the window and just leave him in jail.....never visit or call him again? Or would I apologize to everyone for what he did, yet still support him. Would I tell a judge to give him the death penalty? To let my son die for his actions? Or would I beg the judge to please spare my son's life??

I was 19 once and while I did have anger issues, I never once would even consider doing what this kid did. What he did was a very terrible thing and as an adult, he needs to be accountable for his actions.
I feel bad that at 19 his life is basically doomed forever, but what he did was truly evil.

Not all angry 19 yr olds do what he did. He knew what he was doing. He knew there was a very strong possibility that people would die and get maimed. A 19 yr old who commits such a heinous act scares me. What will he be at 25 or 30 if given another chance???!! We simply cannot afford to find out.

He needs to pay for what he did.
I am sorry for him and his family.

But everyone pays the Pied Piper.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think people have touched on two different points that are both true. One is that there are psychopaths in the world -- people who are "wired wrong" from birth, who actually are operating under a different set of rules and motivations from most other human beings because they have no empathy. Bundy is a clear example. Eric Harris is (probably) another. I find it entirely possible, based on the reports we have so far, that Tamerlan Tsarnaev may have been one of these. But maybe not. Which brings me to my second point. There are a lot of people who commit criminal acts who are not psychopaths. For these people, they started out normal and went down a wrong path, made bad decisions, some impulsively (the Jovan Belcher case comes to mind as an example of this). Or, they come to believe in an ideology so deeply that it causes them to lose empathy for the group that is the target of the ideology (many German citizens during the Holocaust participated in unspeakable crimes because the ideology they came to believe said that Jews were less than human and thus undeserving of empathy).

It is fine and normal to feel anger toward people who commit heinous acts that cost others their lives and limbs. But it behooves us as a society to move beyond pure rage and to seek understanding of why the non-psychopaths end up committing crimes -- not to grieve for them but to try to prevent future crimes. Understanding how ideology can undermine empathy -- and how to stop that from happening -- is particularly important.

That said, I do feel some sadness for this kid. I just can't imagine how on earth doing this could have been worth forfeiting his life. Did he really feel he had nothing to live for? It is just baffling. Unlike Adam Lanza, who clearly didn't have anything to live for (in anyone's eyes, including, apparently, his). And yet, despite the fact that Newtown shook me to the core and I cried buckets for those kids and still think about those parents every day, I feel strangely sad for Lanza too. What, if anything, could have been done to prevent his spiral into darkness?

I'm sorry some of you feel too angry to be able to entertain these questions. But I refuse to be told what a "normal" response is to a tragedy or be called names because I'm not itching to kill the killers.

Very, very well said. Thank you.